Page 103 of Sugarlips
Fuck.
Grabbing my phone, I looked at her social media, searching for any hint as to where she might be right now. “Come on,” I muttered, scrolling through her stories. “Give me something.”
Just as I was about to give up, I came upon a photo. A pizza baking in a brick oven.
Bingo.
I knew where she was. Nick’s Pizzeria.
I yanked the apron from around my neck and tossed it onto one of the tables, lunging for the front door.
“Where the hell are you going?” Finn called after me.
I paused in the doorway, a smile edging along my lips. “I’m going to get Chloe. I… I need her.”
“About goddamn time.” Finn’s smile widened. “Well, go on. And you better grab your coat. I hear it's pretty cold out there. You know, since hell froze over.”
41
Chloe
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nick try to pour more wine into my glass. I quickly placed my hand over the top of the delicate rim, not missing a beat. “… which is why if you look at the projections, you could start delivering pizza, but the additional employee and insurance costs might completely offset any increase in revenue. For now, at least.”
He glanced at my hand, still covering the glass, smirking. “You sure you don’t want a second pour? I know this cab is your favorite.”
I smiled and shook my head. “It’s two in the afternoon.” And I still had a ton of work to do before Finn and I took The Dump Truck out tonight.
“Okay, no pressure.” He paused, leaning in closer to my face and brushed his calloused thumb gently beneath my eye. “Eyelash,” he said, holding it up for me to see. With a quick flick of his fingers and brush of his hands against his pants, the lash was gone.
I gulped, remembering how Liam would always hold it up for me to make a wish. Not for the first time, my stomach churned with memories.
I missed him. I missed him so damn much that it was hard tobreathe, let alone think and work and live my life normally.
I cleared my throat, hoping to cough up the stifling, bitter loneliness I felt, and focused on business, pulling out my phone to scroll through Nick’s TikTok feed. “Look, I know you said you don’t want your face on social media,but—”
“Chloe,” he groaned my name and rolled his eyes, flopping into the seat across from me.
“Hear me out.” I paused to take a bite of pizza and moaned in appreciation for how damn delicious it was. Working for all these delicious eateries in Maple Grove was going to go straight to my hips. “Your engagement on social media is really good. Imagine what it could be if you showed your face. You’re hot, and people would go nuts to watch you give tips for how to make pizza at home.”
He didn’t say anything while I continued to scroll through the various posts. Finally, the silence was a little much, and I glanced up from the phone to find Nick leaning on his arms on the table just a tad too close to me.
His brow quirked. “You think I’m hot?”
Uh oh. I gulped. That was so not what I meant or intended. Yes, Nick was a handsome guy. But Isowasn’t into him. Not likethat. In truth, I wasn’t into anyone like that… except for Liam.
I cleared my throat. “As your marketing consultant,yes, you are objectively an attractive man. And I think there is a way to leverage that into a bigger fan base.”
Nick smirked; a smoldering lift to one corner of his mouth.Dammit. “You and that Evans guy… you two aren’t a thing anymore, are you?”
“No,” I answered quickly. “We’re not a thing. We neverwerea thing.”
“Good.”
Good?
My spine bristled as I glanced up through my thick lashes at Nick.
“That’ll make things a lot easier for me when I ask you out,” he said.
